Immutable part 1
There are things you "know" and there are things you KNOW. It's the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge, right? But I've always thought if you're going to base your life on something it should be something true. A truth. And not only "A" truth, but THE truth. We know Jesus is THE way, THE truth, and THE life, right? We know He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. And yet it seems like we'll try to build on any grain of sand we can find before we finally give up and use the Rock as our foundation. It's like we still think of God as last chance instead of first choice. I'm convinced that's why (and how) we get into a lot of trouble. We MAKE trouble for ourselves when we try to go our own way. When we try to "figure it out" instead of simply letting God reveal Himself to us, and in us, and through us. We participate in this war of "head vs heart" and we get all mixed up and twisted around... and lost. Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber" (John 10:1). That's us trying to take the Kingdom by force. That's us trying to take the Kingdom with the violence of human effort. And thta's us robbing ourselves of what we have freely been given. We don't understand, or believe, or know the truth--that it is the Father's good pleasure to GIVE us the Kingdom--and so we try to get it for ourselves. We try to build our own kingdom. And we miss out on what's available to us. We miss out on what we already have by trying to get something we think we haven't got. Now look at Hebrews 6:18-19, "That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to life, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil." Ok. First things first. What's within the veil? The most holy place, right? The metting place between God and man. And for the record, when Jesus died on the cross the veil was torn in half from top to bottom. So there IS no separation between God and man. God lives IN man. Right? Jesus... God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. But the point I want to make for this Rant series is God's immutable truth. "Immutable" is number 276 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "unchangeable." Sometimes truth can be tricky, right? "My" truth might be different than your truth. Preaching last night I said, "Your heart might not know the way for someone else to go, but it knows the way for YOU to go." But that's what's so special about God's truth. About the truth that God IS. He is immutable. Unchangeable. "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8). Which means--since He IS the truth and it's impossible for Him to lie, or change--you can trust what He says. You can build a life on it. His Word is the foundation you can build on. And His Word is love. Love never changes. Love is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Love is the immutable truth of the universe. And when you KNOW that you are loved... that's when you CAN love. That's when you can live. Because to live IS to love and to love is to live. That Rock will not be shaken. Eternal life is eternal because love is immutable!